More and more devices are being replaced with autonomous and semiautonomous electronic devices. This is especially true in the hospitals of today with large arrays of autonomous and semiautonomous electronic devices being found in operating rooms, interventional suites, intensive care wards, emergency rooms, and the like. For example, glass and mercury thermometers are being replaced with electronic thermometers, intravenous drip lines now include electronic monitors and flow regulators, and traditional hand-held surgical instruments are being replaced by computer-assisted medical devices.
These electronic devices provide both advantages and challenges to the personnel operating them. Many of these electronic devices may be capable of autonomous or semiautonomous motion of one or more articulated arms and/or end effectors. These one or more articulated arms and/or end effectors each include a combination of links and articulated joints that support motion of the articulated arms and/or end effectors. In many cases, the articulated joints are manipulated to obtain a desired position and/or orientation (collectively, a desired pose) of a corresponding instrument located at a distal end of the links and articulated joints of a corresponding articulated arm and/or end effector. Each of the articulated joints proximal to the instrument provides the corresponding articulated arm and/or end effector with at least one degree of freedom that may be used to manipulate the position and/or orientation of the corresponding instrument. In many cases, the corresponding articulated arms and/or end effectors may include at least six degrees of freedom that allow for controlling a x, y, and z position (collectively referred to as translational movement) of the corresponding instrument as well as a roll, pitch, and yaw orientation (collectively referred to as rotational movement) of the corresponding instrument. To provide for greater flexibility in control of the pose of the corresponding instrument, the corresponding articulated arms and/or end effectors are often designed to include redundant degrees of freedom. When redundant degrees of freedom are present it is possible that multiple different combinations of positions and/or orientations of the articulated joints may be used to obtain the same pose of the corresponding instrument.
When devices with articulated arms are used for a medical procedure, it is not uncommon that one or more of the articulated arms may be docked with a patient at a port site so that an instrument and/or other end effector may be utilized to perform a procedure on the interior anatomy of the patient. Depending upon the procedure it may be desirable to release a lock and/or brake on one or more of the joints of the articulated arm in order to reposition at least a portion of the articulated arm. When the lock and/or brake is released, this may result in an undesirable movement in the position and/or orientation of the articulated arm and more importantly a tip of the instrument and/or end effector that is positioned within the patient. This undesirable movement may result in injury to a patient, injury to personnel in proximity to the articulated arms and/or end effectors, damage to the articulated arms and/or end effectors, damage to other devices in proximity to the articulated arms and/or end effectors, breach of a sterile field, and/or other undesirable outcomes.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have the one or more joints in an articulated arm correct for undesirable movement in an instrument, an articulated arm, and/or an end effector when a brake and/or a lock is released in one or more joints of the articulated arm.